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(No Model.)

E. G. HOVEY.

VILLAGE-0B. HOUSE TELEPHONE SYETEM No. 566,762. Patented Sept. 1, 1896.

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izlz'mweaax UNITED STATES PATENT EEicE,

ELIVYN G. IIOVEY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE WESTERN ELECTRICCOMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

VILLAGE OR HOUSE TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 566,762, datedSeptember 1, 1896.

' Application filed May 4, 1895- gerial No. 548,176 (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ELWYN G. HovEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Village or HouseTelephone Systems, (Case No. 1,) of which the following is a full,clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to a village or house telephone system, and moreparticularly to systems of that class in which a line-circuit isprovided for each substation of the system, all of the line-circuitsextending to each of the substations and being provided thereat withswitchsockets whereby a connection maybe made with any of theline-circuits at any of the substations. The telephone set at eachsubstation terminates in a plug which normally rests in a switch-socketconnected with the line-circuit belonging to the particular substation,the telephone set being thus normally in circuit with its own line. Byinserting the plug in the switch-socket belonging to any other line thesubstation may be connected in talkingcircuit with any of the othersubstations of the system.

It is the object of my invention to insure the return of the plug to theswitch-socket belonging to the line-circuit of the particular substationafter each conversation, and'to accomplish this object I provide asignaling device, preferably a bell, adapted to be sounded when thesubscriber hangs up his telephone if he has neglected to return the plugto its individual switch-socket, that is, the socket connected with itsown line-circuit. Nhen the plug rests in its individual switchsocket,the hanging up of the telephone does not sound the bell.

In an application of \Villiarn R. Patterson, filed January 21, 1896,Serial No. 576,256, is described a system of the general class to whichmy invention relates, and my invention is to be considered subsidiarythereto.

I will describe my invention by reference to the accompanying drawing,which illustrates diagrammatically a number of substations connectedtogether in accordance with my invention.

I have illustrated my invention in connection with three substations A BC, the substation apparatus at station B being omitted for clearance.Between the several substa tions extend the line-circuits a b, 0 (Z, cf. The limbs a Z) are connected, respectively, with the line-springs o,b at substation A, with line springs a b at substation B, and withlinesprings a Z) at substation O. Likewise the limbs 0 (Z are connectedwith the line-springs c d, 0 (Z 0 (Z at the respective substations A BO. The limbs e f are similarly connected with the line-springs e f, e fe f Considering the apparatus at substation O, the plug g is adapted tonormally rest in its individual switch-socketwith the tip g of the plugin contact with the line-spring c and the sleeve 9 in contact with theline-sprin g f The telephone receiver 72, the secondary Winding t' ofthe induction coil, and the switch-hook k are included in circuitbetween the tip 9 and the sleeve 9 of the plug g, the switch-hook Itbeing adapted to close against contact-anvil when thereceiver is removedfrom the hook. The local battery Z, the microphone Z and the primarywinding of the induction-coil are included in circuit between thecontact-anvils 7c and which are closed together when the telephone isremoved from its hook. \Vhen the telephone is hung upon its hook, thehook rests against contact-anvil 70 which is connected by conductor on,through bell m, with conductor n, which extends through all of thesubstations and is connected with one side of a calling battery 11/, theopposite side of the battery being connected with a conductor 12?, whichlikewise extends through all of the substations. The conductor a isconnected by a conductor m with contact-point f against which the springf is adapted to rest when the plug g is removed from its socket, thespring f being held out of contact with the contact-point f so long asthe plug remains in the socket. The spring f is connected by a conductorm with a contact-point 76, against which spring 75, carried upon butinsulated from the switch-hook k, is adapted to rest when the telephoneis hung up. The spring k is connected through a bell m with theconductor m.

At substation A, I have illustrated similar apparatus, a single bell 0%,however, being adapted to serve the functions of the two bells 'm m Inthe cord-circuit uniting the tip g and the sleeve g of the plug g atsubstation A is provided a switch-arm 0, normally resting againstcontact 0, but which may be moved against contact 0 to connect conductorn of the calling-circuit with the sleeve of the plug to send acalling-current over the line, as will be hereinafter described. Theconductor m is connected with contactpoint 5 adapted to rest againstspring 29 when the plug is withdrawn from the switchsocket, spring 17being connected with the conductor m Normally all of the plugs g 9 restin their individual switch-sockets. Supposing subscriber A desirous ofconversing with subscriber C, he removes plug 9 from its individualsocket and inserts it. in the switchsocket of subscriber C, that is,between the springs e f. The removal of the plug 9 from between thesprings c 1) permits the spring b to make contact with contact-point band circuit is thus closed from calling-battery n through conductors n mto contactpoint I thence to spring 17 conductor m to contact-point kswitch-hook 7c, (the telephone being on the hook,) sleeve 9/ of the plug, linespring f, limb f, linesspring f at substation C, sleeve 9 of theplug g thereat, switch-hook k, contact-point Z0 bell m, conductors 'm 'nto the opposite side of the battery n. Circuit is thus closed throughbell m, the attention of the subscriber C being thus called. Thesubscribers remove their telephones. from the hooks and are inconversation. Thetalkin circuit may be traced from the telephone set ofsubscriber A to the tip 9 of the plug, line-spring e, limb e of theline-circuit, linespring e tip g of the plug g, through the telephoneset of subscriber C to the sleeve 9 of the plug, thence to line-spring flimb f, line-spring f sleeve 9 back to the telephone set of subscriberA.

Should subscriber A desire to send a subsequent calling-current over theline, he may do so, by moving the switch-arm 0 into contact with thecontact-anvil 0 circuit being thus closed from the calling battery atthrough the conductors 02 m contact 0 switch-arm 0, sleeve 9 spring f,limb f, linespring f sleeve 9 switch-hook 70, contact through the bellm, and through conductors m and 'n to the opposite side of the calling.-battery n. The calling-current may thus be sent automatically by theremoval of the plug from its individual socket and its insertion intothe socket of the called subscriber, the calling subscribers telephoneremaining on the hook, or the calling-signal may be sent manually bedepressing the key 0 When the calling subscriber is through conversing,his plug, which has been inserted in the switch-socket of the calledsubscribers,

switch-socket, in order that the substation apparatus may be in aposition to receive a call sent from another substation. If the callingsubscriber neglects to return the plug to its individual switch-socket,a signal will be actuated when he hangs up his telephone withoutreturning the plug 9 to its individual switch-socket. Circuit will beclosed from the calling-battery it over conductors n m to contact 19spring 17 conductor m contact 70 through the switch-hook 70 to contact713 thence through the bell m and conductors m and n to the oppositeside of the battery n. Circuit through the battery 11 is thus closed andthe bell is rung to notify the subscriber that he has neglected toreturn the plug to its individual switch-socket. The insertion of theplug g in its individual switch-socket separates spring 12 from contact6 thus opening circuit through the bell m.

In the circuit arrangement, as illustrated at substation A, the, bell mserves for the calling-signal and also serves to sound the signal whenthe subscriber fails to return the plug to its individual socket. Asillustrated in connection with substation C, separate bells m and m areprovided, the former adapted to sound thecalling-signaland the latter toconvey the signal to the subscriber when he neglects to return the plugto its individual socket.

While I have described my invention in connection with switching devicesin the form of a plug adapted to be inserted intoa switchsocket, it isevident that my invention is equally applicable to other formsofswitching devices, and I therefore no not limit myself in thisparticular.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is?

1. In a village or house telephone system,

' the combination witha number of telephonelines extending to each of anumber of substations, each telephone-line being provided at eachsubstation with a switch-socket, of a plug connected with the telephoneset at each substation and adapted to be inserted into the switch-socketof any telephone-line to connect the telephone set in circuit therewith,a local signal or alarm circuit at each substation, said local circuitincluding a bati tery, a signal device, the switch-contacts operated bythe telephone-hook, and a pair of contacts provided in connection withthe individual switch-socket, that is, the switchsocket in which theplug is adapted to normally rest, said contacts being separated when theplug is inserted and closed together when the plug is removed, thecircuit being thus open at two points during conversation, that is, atthe contacts controlled by 'the telephonehook and at the contacts.controlled by the insertion of the plug; whereby when the plug is not inthe individual socket the contacts upon the switch-socket are closed andthe 10- cal circuit is completed through the contacts IIO controlled bythe telephone-hook when the telephone is hung up, while if the plug bereturned to the individual socket the local circuit is not completedwhen the telephone is hung up; substantially as described.

2. The combination with a number of telephone-lines extending to anumber of substations, of a switching device or socket for each of saidlines provided at each of said substations, a plug normally resting inthe individual or home switch socket belonging to its particular line, asignal device in circuit with said plug, whereby the signal device ateach of said substations is normally in circuit with its line, acalling-battery, and

switch-contacts adapted to be closed together by the removal of the plugfrom its home switch-socket, and the subsequent insertion of the plug inthe switch-socket of another telephone-line for closing the circuit ofsaid calling-battery through the signal device of the telephone-linewith which connection is made; substantially as described.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 15th day of April,A. D, 1895.

ELWYN G. HOVEY.

Witnesses:

DE WITT (J. TANNER, W. CLYDE Jones.

